Anchor
by FyreBrande
Summary: One-shot of Miri Surana's arrival at the tower of Magi. Dragon Age universe doesn't belong to me, but all OC's do.


**A little something extra for you while I perfect the next chapter of Aftermath. :)**

"Mama, Mama! Guess what Miri can do!"

"No, Khal, don't tell her!" Miri chased after her sister, small hands digging into the back of Khalia's dress. Unfortunately, a five year old was no match for the momentum already built up by a girl three and a half years her senior, and Khalia simply dragged her along as she pounded toward their house. "Khaliaaaaa!"

"Miri, Mama needs to know! That was completely amazing!" Khalia tossed back the thick black braid hanging over her shoulder and shook free of her little sister's grasp. "What're you afraid of?"

"Being weird. Did you see the way Pris and Toli looked at me? What if they think I'm a freak?"

Khalia snorted. "You're not. They're just jealous 'cause they can't deal with Karssen like you did."

Miri shot her a worried look. "I hope I don't get anyone in trouble."

"Trouble for what?" Their mother, returning from Aricca's store, drew close enough just in time to hear the end of her younger daughter's fretting.

Miri blushed, not that it was obvious with her dark skin, and bit her lip, shooting Khalia a pleading look.

Her sister nodded and explained as the girls followed their mother into the small, run-down house."We were playing with Pris and Toli, and Karssen started harrassing us again-"

"Maker's breath, what did you _do_?" Mama demanded, worry creasing her face as well. Horribly as the guard treated everyone in the Alienage, he was still human, and could make their lives even more of a living hell if he so chose.

"Well, he smacked Toli, said she was in his way when she wasn't, and she started crying, and so I hit him-"

"Miri Surana!" Mama's dark blue eyes-the only feature Miri had inherited from her pale, blonde mother-widened in dismay.

"I'm sorry, Mama," Miri choked, tears filling her eyes. "But that's not all."

"Andraste preserve me..." Mama murmured, collapsing into the one chair they owned that wasn't broken and burying her face in her hands. "Miri, _what did you do_?"

"I-I wasn't trying to, Mama, I don't know what ha-happened, I'm s-s-sorry," Miri hiccupped, the tears starting in earnest as she shot Khalia a wild look.

"When she hit Karssen, he just laughed at her. He asked if that was the best she could do," the older girl explained, "So she screamed and hit him again. But this time, he...froze."

"Froze?" Mama demanded, looking up at her daughters.

Miri nodded, fear widening her eyes. "Uh-huh."

"Miri has _magic_." Khalia sounded awed as she spoke the sentence, but the fresh terror the words birthed in their mother's eyes was mirrored in Miri's.

...

Nothing changed for almost a week. Miri refused to leave the house, terrified Karssen would find her, despite Khalia's attempts to reassure her things would be fine, and a couple outright bribes from her sister. After five days had passed with no sign of trouble, Miri at least consented to stop hiding in the bedroom, and joined her mother and sister for dinner.

"I'm susre it'll be fine, Mir," Khalia soothed her still-worried sister, giving her a hug. Miri believed her. Khalia was her anchor, the one who helped her be strong. And after all, she _was_ eight and a half. She knew what she was talking about. Everything would be fine.

Toli and Pris came over the next day after Mama had left for work, and Miri agreed to play with them outside, as long as they stayed right in front of the house.

"Y'know, Mir, if Karssen's looking for you, hiding in your own house isn't gonna help much," Pris pointed out.

"I just feel safer here," Miri shot back. "I'm not goin' anywhere else."

"All right, all right." Khalia's best friend raised her hands in surrender. "We can play here. 'Sides, no one's seen him in the Alienage since your little run-in."

The girls were in the middle of a game when the voice Miri had been terrified of hearing echoed around a corner. "...lives over 'ere, ser." Karssen appeared around the house, a pair of templars behind him. He nodded at Miri. "That's 'er."

Khalia and Pris jumped up and stood in front of the younger girls. "What d'you want?" Khalia demanded, crossing her arms.

"We hear this girl has magic abilities," one of the templars replied, his voice serious and official as he stared hard at Miri.

Miri clung to the back of Khalia's dress. "Khal..."

"So what if she does?" Khalia was terrified; Miri could tell, but her sister still refused to give ground before the templars.

_This is why you're my anchor, Khal._

"All mages live in the tower at Kinloch Hold, girl," the shorter templar spat. "Are all elves as stupid as you?"

Anger flared in Miri's chest. "Don't talk to my sister like that!" She stomped forward.

"Miri, what are you doing?" cried Toli, trying to melt into Pris and Khalia's shadows even as she spoke.

"Khal's not stupid!" Miri hollered. She didn't notice the lightning crackling around her hands until the first templar, the older one, cursed under his breath and grabbed her arm. "Lemme _**go**_!" she shrieked as he pulled her toward him. "_Khal!_"

"Miri!" Khalia and Pris lunged forward. Just as Khalia's fingers brushed Miri's, Karssen and the shorter templar shoved them back, hard, into Toli, and all three girls tumbled to the ground. "Miri!"

The older templar tossed Miri over his shoulder, despite her screams, kicks, and pounding on his back. "Come on, Henry. Let's get her out of here."

"_**Khalia!**_"

That was the last time Miri saw her sister.

...

The templar carried her to the chantry, where he tossed her in a small back room. "It's too late to leave for the lake tonight," he muttered. "We'll go in the morning."

As she sat in the dark, locked room, Miri struggled against the tears. _What's Mama going to think when she comes home? I'm never going to see her or Khal again. I didn't even get to say goodbye._ A single tear trickled down her face as she thought about her family. Without Khal there to be her anchor, keep her brave, she didn't know if she could do it.

And then something settled inside her. _I'm gonna be brave. For Khal. I hafta grow up sometime. They don't scare me. They're just men in armor. _She sniffled and dragged one sleeve of her ragged dress across her nose._ Maybe the tower Ser Henry mentioned won't be so bad._ She smiled._ I'll make the best of it, either way. Maybe I'll make new friends. And this magic thing might even be kinda fun._ Her decision made, Miri curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

...

Even Ser Henry's rough way of waking her the next morning-grabbing her arm and dragging her to her feet-didn't dampen Miri's resolve to make the best of things. She was quiet the whole journey to Lake Calenhad. Both templars were irritable, and Ser Henry hated elves even more than Karssen did. In order to have the smallest number of bruises possible, Miri kept her mouth shut and followed mutely wherever they told her to go. The older templar, Edward, was brusque and short tempered, but only seemed to dislike her because she was a mage. Her race didn't have anything to do with the short tone he used the few times he spoke to her.

When they reached the docks across the lake from the tower, Miri's eyes went wide. She'd never seen anything so very _tall_ in her whole life. She didn't even notice when Ser Henry shoved her toward the templar standing on the dock and left.

"Come on, darlin' " the blond man guarding the docks prodded her toward the boat.

Miri obeyed, still staring at the tower. "It's so _tall_," she whispered.

The templar chuckled. "It is that, isn't it. Now sit still. I don't want you falling in the lake." One look at the slimy green water and Miri obeyed with alacrity.

...

Getting some of her blood taken for the phylactery hurt, but not too much, and Miri hardly even whimpered. The priest smiled and said she was a brave girl. Miri smiled back. A templar grasped her elbow to keep her moving-she wanted to stop and stare at absolutely _everything_-as they headed to the apprentices' quarters.

Miri didn't notice she'd picked up a shadow until she reached the dormitories and stopped to figure out which bed was supposed to be hers, and that was only because he ran into her. She _almost _fell over, but not quite, and spun around to confront whoever it was. She couldn't help but giggle at the boy. She'd _never_ seen a kid quite so scrawny before in her life, even growing up in an Alienage. He was all arms and legs and shaggy black hair. "S'there a reason you're stickin' to me like a leech?" she asked through a grin.

"Am not!" he protested, blushing pure scarlet. "Don't call me that!"

"Then what's your name, little leech?" Miri laughed, nudging him in the ribs as she plopped down on what she hoped was her bed.

He hesitated, suddenly shy. "Um..."

"Come on. Tell me," she encouraged, tugging his sleeve so he sat next to her. "Look, if it'll make it easier, I'll go first. My name's Miri. What's yours?"

"Jowan," he mumbled.

"Nice t'meet you. You wanna be friends?" _Can't hurt to ask._

He smiled and finally met her eyes. "Sure."

...

The two of them proceded to be the terrors of the tower until he was fourteen and she was twelve. That was when Miri decided being both a troublemaker and a good mage was too much work. She didn't know how Anders managed it. Since she wanted to be a good mage, she stopped being a troublemaker.

To say she was a bit of a teacher's pet after that would have been an understatement. _Irving's favorite_ would have been closer to the mark. She started studying more, practicing more, and suddenly found she was _really_ good at magic. Particularly ice spells. And lightning. Since Jowan was good with fire and lightning, the two of them practiced together a lot.

"Y'know, we'd work well together if we ever had to fight somebody," Miri commented idly one day, rolling a small ball of lightning around on her palm.

"You think so?" Jowan didn't look up from whatever he was working on.

"Yeah. Fire, ice, _and_ lightning? We've got primal magic locked up in spades. S'good thing we're friends."

"Mm-hm."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "What _are_ you doing?" She leaned forward to peer over his shoulder.

"Just doodling," he muttered, trying to hide the sketch.

"Ah, ah, ah. Let me see." Miri nudged his hand out of the way and cocked her head to get a better look. "Maker, Jowan, that's really good." She traced one finger along the lines of the sketch, eyeing the girl in it. "So who's it supposed to be?"

Jowan's face went red. "Nobody."

Miri snorted. "Sure, right. I know you better than anybody. You never sketch anything without basing it off something. So stop lyin' and tell me who it is." She grinned at him triumphantly.

He shook his head. "It's nobody, Mir." He pushed off the stone floor to stand up.

Miri grabbed his wrist. "You know I'm not going to let this go until you tell m-"

"Ow!"

"What?" She let go of his wrist and pulled up his sleeve, staring at the nasty cut on the back of his arm. "Maker's breath, Jowan, how'd that happen?"

He shrugged, tugging his sleeve back down. "Just an accident. It'll be fine, Miri. C'mon, or we'll be late for class." He hauled her to her feet.

"Oh, fine, but I _am_ going to find out who that girl is, whether you tell me or I have to use other methods," Miri teased, deciding to let it go for now.

...

"Here. I made this in enchanting class. I figure you have more use for it than I do." Miri held out the leather cord, watching the pendant hanging from it swing back and forth.

Jowan took it and rubbed his thumb over the arcane symbol etched on the back of the pewter medallion. "What's it do?"

"Increases fire spell damage and resistance." She shrugged. "You use fire more than I do, so it's better for you to have it. We're doing ice enchantments next week, I'll make me one then."

"Thanks, Miri." He pulled the cord over his head and tucked the pendant inside the collar of his robe.

She couldn't help but notice the new gash running parallel to the now-healed one on his wrist, but he brushed off her concern when she asked about it. Miri frowned. _No one's __**that**__ accident-prone. _

...

Everything hurt. Her head, her shoulder, her back, her knees.

Her heart.

Miri rubbed her throbbing head and tried to make sense of the whirling chaos that was the last few hours.

...

_"They're going to make me tranquil...there's a rumor about me, people think I'm a blood mage."_

_ "And are they right about that?"_

_ "Of course not! But it's not safe here for me anymore..."_

_ "Why are you doing this to Jowan?"_

_ "I'm sorry, child. The Rite of Tranquility will happen."_

_ "You know this is wrong..."_

_ "As Knight-Commander of the templars here assembled, I sentence this blood mage to death. And this initiate has scorned the Chantry and her vows. Take her to Aeonar."_

_ "No! I won't let you touch her!"_

_ "I just want to be with you, Lily. Please come with me..."_

_ "I don't know who you are, blood mage. Stay away from me!"_

_ "I knew it! Blood magic!"_

_ "He lied to me!"_

_ "You helped a blood mage! Look at all he's hurt!"_

_ "Do what you like. I stand by my decision to help Jowan."_

_ ..._

Her memory after that point wasn't so good. One phrase, however, burned itself into Miri's brain as she leaned back against the wall of her cell: "..._assisted a maleficar..."_

Maleficar. Jowan. _Jowan_, her friend-_**best**_ friend-since she was five years old, was a _maleficar_.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered to the ceiling as tears started to fall. "Andraste's bloody knickers, why did you even _do_ it?"

"_I thought it would make me a better mage..."_

Even if she had wanted to, she couldn't hate him. Feel hurt and betrayed, yes. Hate him, never. Not Jowan. Not when he was her anchor here, the one thing that had kept her from going insane all those years, the one who knew all her secrets and told her all of his. _Except one, apparently._

And especially not when she could understand why he had done it in the first place. The drive to be a better mage was one thing she could understand all too well. And Tranquil...well, both of them agreed _that _was a fate worse than death. Despite what he'd done, she couldn't blame Jowan. It had been _her_ choice to help him, _her_ choice to not tell Irving when she had a chance. Her choice. But she'd seen his face when he left and besides, she knew him well enough to know that he would blame himself for what he had to know would happen to her.

Her bruised and aching body complained as she shifted position to pull her knees gingerly into her chest. The templars hadn't exactly been gentle. She was used to it. She was an elf and she was a mage. Miri rested her chin on her knees and spoke into the darkness of the cell where she awaited the inevitable fate of any mage deemed accomplice to a maleficar.

"For whatever it's worth, _I_ forgive you."

_A/N: And now you know more about Miri. I decided, since they give you next to nothing about where you come from as a mage, to give her sort of the exact opposite experience as Jowan has in Abomination. Mostly because she's an elf, so I figured the templars wouldn't be kind when they came for her. So while Jowan got Priscilla and Ser Jared, who were really, really nice, Miri gets the not-so-nice Ser Henry and Ser Edward. And I decided to take it further than just their initial meeting(and yes, I copy and pasted that straight out of Abomination and just made little changes. Making sure they matched) so that I could write what I imagine happening Surana( or Amell) should they __**not**__ be The Warden recruited by Duncan. And so I could explain how Jowan got that necklace they use in chapter 10(and 11, I guess) of Aftermath. So, yes, this and Abomination both fit into my Aftermath!canon. And I confess to much giggling picturing young!Jowan(Maker, I'm __**hopeless**__...). I also now love the name Khalia, and may make another Warden just to use it... And of course, Dragon Age, Jowan, and Anders belong to BioWare, and Khalia/Pris/Toli/Karssen etc belong to me. I suppose we share ownership of Miri, since they own her last name and the mage origin, while I "own" her first name and personality and all._


End file.
